INFLUENCE OF THE DILUTE-PHASE SIH BOND CONCENTRATION ON THE STEADY-STATE DEFECT DENSITY IN A-SI-H

In the field of the stability of a-Si:H, the received wisdom is that a high clustered-phase SiH concentration is to be avoided. In this high -intensity illumination study of a-Si:H films grown using different te chniques, it is found that the steady-state defect density is proporti onal to the dilute-phase concentration [SiH](d) below approximate to 1 6%. A model is proposed to quantify the participation of the different H-bonding configurations in the metastability phenomena. It predicts a steady-state defect density proportional to [SiH](d) and accurately describes the recently observed changes in the infrared absorption of the various H-bonding configurations during light-soaking.